I’ve said it many, many times and I say it again, and I don’t know if anybody… I don’t know. I’m on record on many, many occasions to say we are engaged. I am talking to Alberta Health Services. I am talking to the Minister of Health of Alberta, who is directly in charge of medevac services in Alberta and provision of services in Alberta facilities. The Premier has conveyed the government’s position to the mayor. My deputy minister is in communication with the assistant deputy minister of Alberta. We have a commitment from Alberta government that we are going to be part of the plan. We are engaged. We are working on this issue. I will say it a hundred times again: The public has every right to know and I want to assure the public that we consider this a very, very important issue. We’ve been involved in this for two years. I don’t know what else to say to the Member if he keeps saying he’s not hearing. I am saying we are engaged.
I’d like to know what the Minister of Health and Social Services has negotiated on the public’s behalf and I think the public deserves to know what the Minister has negotiated on their behalf. Furthermore, I think the public likes to see the proof of that, what they’ve done and created as a plan that will ensure that the health care for northern residents across the Territory will be protected and treated as a priority.
The plan is in the works. The plan is being worked on. We are being consulted on the plan. The Premier of Alberta set up the quality council. Our Premier was engaged, as well, at his level. I am engaged with the Minister of Health in Alberta. We have two years before the last runway closes. Mayor Mandel has said that the runway will be open until we have a plan. The Premier of Alberta said that. We are engaged. I have talked to the federal Minister of Health. I have talked to Minister Ambrose, who is the Minister responsible for Northern Alberta. I want to assure the public that we are totally engaged in this file, that we are talking at all appropriate levels, and we are committed to making sure that our northern perspective is heard when that plan is being finalized. It will take a while to finalize that plan.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve heard plan, plan, and plan. The fact is we can plan until we’re blue in the face. The fact is we want to know, I want to know, the public wants to know what the GNWT is supporting. Are they supporting the closure of the municipal airport? At what cost are they supporting the closure of the municipal airport? Are they supporting it in the context that there will be a triage built? What does that actually mean to me? What does it mean to the Assembly? What does it mean to the general public? What is the GNWT supporting in this possible eventuality? That’s the type of detail. What are you negotiating, what are you planning, and what is the GNWT’s position? Do they support this and why?
The question is not whether or not we support or do not support what a municipal jurisdiction in another province is doing. What we are doing is we’re going to look after the patient safety of our northern residents. That’s our job, that’s what we are doing, and I am working, as the Minister responsible, for our residents, to make sure that our interests are protected.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. I have spoken before about a portion of my riding where the residents are facing huge infrastructure replacement costs. The Northland residents are still struggling to finalize a plan for the project to replace their aging and decrepit infrastructure. They’re trying to find a way to finance this plan. Recently the City of Yellowknife submitted a proposal to the federal government for some funding through the GNWT. I particularly want to thank the GNWT and especially MACA for their assistance with that proposal. I believe ITI also had a hand in that. I thank them for that.
I have some questions for the Minister with regard to the proposal and with regard to potential future situations that might arise. Firstly, can the Minister advise the status of the city’s proposal to the federal government for funding to assist the Northland infrastructure replacement project?
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Municipal and Community Affairs did support the city in applying for the federal infrastructure Green Fund. As far as we know, we’re still waiting for word back on the application. Minister Bob McLeod, when he went down to Ottawa, had an opportunity to reinforce our support for the city’s application to access funds out of the Green Fund. As well, Minister of infrastructure Michael McLeod sent a letter off to Ottawa again reinforcing our support for the city’s application.
Thanks to the Minister for that update. I appreciate the efforts that this government is making towards trying to get some answer out of the federal government. I expect there’s as much frustration on the part of MACA as there is on the part of the Northland residents with regard to the proposal.
If the situation should occur where Northland has a major and sudden and serious sewer infrastructure failure, I’d like to know from the Minister whether or not there are any protocols, policies, guidelines that exist within this government that would govern GNWT actions in such a case; actions that the government would have to take to accommodate residents who have been shut out of their homes because of a public order condemning their properties. What protocols do we have that would guide GNWT actions in this case?
Should the unfortunate incident occur that the Member is speaking about, I mean, obviously the city would be in the forefront in trying to deal with some of the damage that occurred there. If the city asks for assistance from MACA or any other appropriate departments, we’d do what we can to assist the city to deal with some of the issues that would take place at Northland should that most unfortunate incident occur where the pipes burst and things go bad.
I appreciate that the Minister is saying that this government would provide some assistance to the City of Yellowknife if such a situation were to occur. I think it’s important to note that Northland is a neighbourhood of about 1,100 people, which is about 2.6 percent of our whole NWT population. To the Minister, should the city all of a sudden have to find accommodations for some 1,100 people, what will our government do to assist them?
This is a privately held condominium. We would do what we can to assist whenever possible, wherever possible, and if it is possible. First of all, we have to hope that we never get to that situation, because it would be unfortunate for the residents of Northland Condominium Corporation, who is facing a huge infrastructure crisis. I appreciate the Member’s comments about the 2.6 percent population, but still it’s a privately held condominium corporation.
Having said that, we still as a community, and I mean the Northwest Territories, have to do what we can to assist them through tough times if that does happen.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have to totally agree with the Minister. I absolutely hope we never get there. But almost every day, every month that this infrastructure doesn’t get replaced the potential for a major sewer break looms larger and larger.
The Minister says that this government will do what they can. That doesn’t really satisfy me in terms of details. One of the things that would be needed is that once this catastrophic sewer failure has occurred -- and the city is going to be on the hook for it probably -- what would the GNWT do to assist the city to get these major infrastructure repairs done? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. That’s pretty well a hypothetical question until that happens, so I’m going to rule that question out of order.
---Ruled Out of Order
The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to follow up with my colleagues. Mr. Menicoche and Mr. Hawkins had questions to the Minister of Health earlier and I want to follow up on that.
I find it very interesting that the Minister can stand up here in the House time and time again and say how very, very important this issue is and how deeply involved her and the government are when the decision to close the Edmonton City Centre Airport was made without any vocal outcry from our government or from our Minister.
Mr. Speaker, this happened when people in our communities were coming to us and saying, what is our government doing? What is our government saying about the closure of this airport in Edmonton? And all the Minister can do is stand up in the House and say we’ve written letters. Like I said earlier, it took us two months to get a copy of those letters. None were penned by the Minister to anybody in Alberta. So how can she defend that she has taken this issue so seriously when she hasn’t even written a letter herself to anybody, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am on record to say that the municipality had voted on a plebiscite years ago to close this airport in a phased fashion. Two years ago we were aware that they were closing this and the letter that the Stanton CEO sent is not a letter to some consultant in Missouri. That was, in fact, very appropriate and direct input that our government put in. We wrote to them to tell them how important this service is. We were involved exactly where we should have been.
Mr. Speaker, since then, the decision to close the airport has had overwhelming support within the municipality, and my job, as the Minister of Health and Social Services, is to work with my counterpart in Alberta to plan. We have a commitment from the municipality that the last runway will not close until we have a plan. The Minister of Health in Alberta talked to me about Premier Stelmach setting up a quality council and we have a commitment from them that we will be involved. Mr. Speaker, we are taking all appropriate actions and necessary actions to make sure that our view and our needs are part of their consideration. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I think the Minister is missing my point. The CEO can write a letter and you can rest assured that if there is a decision by the province of Saskatchewan or the province of British Columbia that impacted the province of Alberta, their Ministers would be up publicly decreeing what that decision was and the impacts it would have on the citizens of Alberta. Our Minister was nowhere to be found when it came to defending the interests of the people of the Northwest Territories and the closure of that airport. That is very obvious, Mr. Speaker.
Now I’m trying to find some comfort in that going forward that we are going to have some assurances and certainty that the Minister will be more vocal on the needs and the desires of our citizens to have those appropriate services in place in Edmonton for medevac services, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
The Member is missing my point, with all due respect. Politicians can do their thing. At the end of the day, we have to be part of the plan. That’s what the Members here expect. That’s what our public expects. What is our plan to make sure that when our patients need health care in Alberta, that they will get their service as quickly as possible? We support Premier Stelmach’s establishment of a quality council, and their mandate is very clear and includes identifying effective practices and making recommendations for the improvement of patient safety and health service quality. Our deputy minister is in, and I’ve said this about three times today, my officials are in touch with Alberta health officials. We have a commitment from them that we will be part of this plan. We have two years to plan this. This is very complicated work and we are involved.
Mr. Speaker, the decision to close the municipal airport happened years ago, years ago. They had a referendum 15 years ago. They had our support then. They have support now. The Member says I should have stopped that. I would rather spend my energy working out a plan that addresses the patient safety issues of my residents and our residents in the Territory, and I’m doing that, exactly what I should be doing. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I think the Minister is missing my point. My point is that the Minister was nowhere to be found during this discussion on the closure of that airport. There was no public statement issued by this government whatsoever, and I think that was the wrong thing to do, Mr. Speaker. Like I said, our responsibilities are to the people of the Northwest Territories and we have to make sure that our interests are known, respected and accounted for at every table. I don’t think we should be going down there and telling them how they should develop their plans, but every interest of the people of the Northwest Territories has to be respected and known at those tables, and I want some assurance that the Minister is going to make sure that that happens. Thank you.
I’m doing exactly that, so I’m sure the Member agrees with what I am doing. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Your final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I hope that the Minister has listened. Again, she is the Minister of Health and Social Services. If anybody is going to defend the interests of the people in regard to health and social services here in the Northwest Territories, it’s her. It’s not her staff. It’s not the bureaucrats in the department. It’s the Minister, Mr. Speaker. I’d like, again, some assurances from the Minister that she is going to take more of a leadership role in being vocal about what those interests are for the residents in the Northwest Territories. Not her deputy minister, not the senior staff, but her herself. Thank you.
I agree with him that I, as the Minister of Health and Social Services, should take leadership on this and give appropriate direction. I have done that. I have talked to the Minister of Health in Alberta on that. The Premier of Alberta has set up a health quality council of Alberta. Their mandate is to promote patient safety and health service quality on a province-wide basis, that means Alberta. They will set out guidelines on how patient safety will be taken care of. My officials are not doing my job. They are working under my direction. They are in touch with my counterpart in Alberta and we have a commitment from them that we will be consulted in this quality council. We’re doing exactly what the Member wants to do and I will make a commitment that we will give you, in writing, as this project… I will give you in writing and we will inform the public about the work as it progresses, but understanding that we still have months to go in terms of working out the plan. I’m doing exactly what he thinks I should do and I don’t know why I’m not being heard. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to talk about airports, but the real airports that are important to the people in the North and have the ability to medevac people out of our communities so that we can medevac them to Edmonton where, basically, those requirements are essential.
Mr. Speaker, the Department of Transportation is improving the access to communities by extending airports up to 4,000 feet in Fort Good Hope, Tulita, Fort McPherson and also in other communities that have been identified. Mr. Speaker, the whole reason for that is to mitigate aircraft weight consistency imposed by new federal regulations. Again, these runway extensions are essential to community services and, more importantly, improving access to communities by reducing the cost of living.
Mr. Speaker, in regard to the situation of Aklavik, basically this issue has come to light and the community is requesting when is the community of Aklavik going to have their opportunity to have their airport extended up to the 4,000 feet, which is basically now in federal regulations. I’d like to ask the Minister when is the community of Aklavik’s airport going to be extended to 4,000 feet in the upcoming years. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The 2010 rule on aircraft specifies the landing and take-off approaches that need to be addressed on a number of airports and they apply to a certain type of category. In this case, there are 74 community category aircraft. We had done a study in the last government to review the runway issues across the NWT. We use that as a basis and a guide to improve the runway lengths. A number of communities, Fort Good Hope, Tulita and Fort McPherson and in the case of Aklavik, the runway is 3,000 feet and the aircraft that is being utilized in the community meets the 2010 rule. So there is no issue and our runway study that we did in the last government also indicated that the airport in Aklavik was sufficient and did not need to be extended. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, my understanding of the regulation is that because of the specific types of aircraft that are used in the communities for different reasons, regardless if it is for medevacs or basically moving goods and services, such as DC-3s, Beech aircraft and, more importantly, the ability to reduce the costs of our communities so that they can bring in larger aircraft into those communities. Right now, the majority of the aircraft that does serve the community of Aklavik is basically the 207, which is a Cessna single engine aircraft. Again, the community would like to see an improvement on the aircraft that is being used. More importantly, to ensure that they also aren’t going to be told, sorry, you can’t fly that type of aircraft in there. If anything, all of our airports should be brought up to a certain standard such as 4,000 feet. Again, why are we excluding Aklavik from that proposal, yet we are putting airport extensions up to 4,000 feet in other communities?
Mr. Speaker, the study that we undertook and the results that we used as a guide did not indicate that there was any demand for a larger 20-seat aircraft to go into the community of Aklavik. That is what the 2010 rule would affect. Those would be the larger planes carrying 10 to 19 passengers, such as the Beech 1900D and the Metroliner and others. Mr. Speaker, that is the reason we didn’t look at extending the airport at Aklavik. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, this again has become a political issue for the community of Aklavik. I would like to ask the Minister if he can accommodate myself in going to the community and have a debate on this issue with the community. I think it is critical that the community formulate these partnerships with communities like they are in Fort Good Hope where they are extending the airport for another 500 feet with a joint submission by both the community corporation and the Department of Transportation. Knowing that these things are happening in other communities, why is the government not open to allowing the same practice to be done in other communities and allow those communities to work with the department to basically allow us to have more modern aircraft flying in there? It is North-Wright Air that is having the same problems in the Sahtu with their arguments. That is the airline that is flying into Aklavik. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I must have spent at least two weeks of this summer in Aklavik. The issue was not raised to me about aircraft types and runway lengths. I would be very hesitant to say I would commit to going back into the community when I was there for quite a few days over the summer.
Mr. Speaker, the current type of aircraft that is flying in there for charter or sched services is the Cessna 207. The airport meets the demands for that. There is really no demand identified for the larger type of aircraft. The medevacs are done with King Air. The airport is adequate to meet that demand. I would really at this point be hard pressed to be convinced that we should start looking and putting more money in the capital budget for an extension to the airport. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I would like to formally invite the Minister in. We can do our arm twisting in the community of Aklavik with the community members in a public forum and at that time we can have that discussion.
I have been getting calls from the media on this issue which they are being... This issue did come up at the meeting in Aklavik. I would just like to put that request to the Minister so that way we can basically allow the community to raise the issue with us formally and basically deal with the options going forward. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the Member has already twisted my arm on several occasions on other issues. We have commitments to meet with the leadership over the next while. I would be glad to put this subject on the table for discussion, whether it means going into Aklavik or someplace in the Delta, or if the leadership is in town here, I would commit to meet with them on the subject and have the discussion whether it is something that is warranted. We would also, of course, have to spell out our fiscal realities and look at what the demand is for that airport. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was listening to MLA Beaulieu’s questions to the Minister of Housing, and the Minister of Housing had said that the Housing Corporation is $23 million in arrears. It is my understanding that the NWT Housing Corporation doesn’t push their arrears to a collections agency. If they do, it seems to be selective. One more step that I am also aware that they don’t do consistently, if at all, is it puts these arrears on people’s credit rating. That is known as a significant problem out there. Would the Minister of Housing tell me exactly how they pursue legally, in a lawful manner, obviously, the collection of these arrears? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We try to work with the tenants as closely as possible and not get to the point to where we have to go to a collection agency. That is one of the options that we are looking at, but it would be our desire to just work with the tenants, work out a repayment plan with them. There is some garnisheeing that goes on, but as far as reporting to a collection agency, that is one of the options we have been looking at. It is one that we are quite hesitant to pursue, because I would personally, as the corporation would, like to work with the tenants and have them come to us.
I can assure the Member and public that if this continues to be a problem and with the declining funding, we may have to look at all options. If that is one of them, then we will look at that. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I certainly want to stress I hope the Minister doesn’t take this personally, but that is quite a travesty to hear that we are not motivating our tenants by those types of things. I can tell you for a fact, that recently someone had an overpayment and the GNWT, well, the FMB sends the leg breakers. They start phoning them regularly over a simple error. They threatened credit bureau. They threatened everything but the kitchen sink to be thrown at them. But housing arrears accumulate to $23 million. Someone should be given a head shake over there to say, how long are we going to persist?
Mr. Speaker, the bottom line is, if we don’t take our arrears seriously, somebody who decides not to pay can go get a truck if they want because their credit isn’t stained. They can go buy a skidoo. They can do whatever they want, knowing that nothing is hanging over their head.
Mr. Speaker, what is the lead foot problem on this issue to stop the government from saying, well, we will just talk to them? We need to motivate them. What is stopping the Housing Corporation today for initiating a new policy that says anybody who owes arrears, we will pursue it through the credit bureau and send it to a collections agency? We have the outright responsibility to do this. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to think the motivation for these folks is to be able to stay in their own homes. It is something that we are working on. I have told the Member that this is an option we are seriously looking at.
Part of the problem, as we all know in this Assembly and the Assemblies before, the collection of arrears becomes very politically sensitive. Everybody says you should collect the arrears and then when you try to put the process in place to collect on arrears, all the Members start getting phone calls. So it’s one that we are pursuing. I can assure the Member that it’s not one that we’re just letting go by. We are pursuing this and we have looked at options. The Member said it correctly, we’ve had people complaining about a tenant with a $50,000 truck sitting outside their house and they’re in arrears and this person has got an old, beat up GM, but they’re paying their rent faithfully every month. So it’s situations like those we want to have a look at. If reporting it to the credit bureau will motivate a few individuals to start clearing up their arrears is something that as a corporation we are seriously looking at. Thank you.
The Minister highlights a perfect example that I’m well aware of the fact that good tenants sometimes have to drive less nice vehicles, where tenants who aren’t paying -- and the fact is we have people who aren’t paying -- can afford, because their credit rating is good, so they can run out and afford to buy a fancy truck.
Mr. Speaker, when I hear the word “if” and when I hear “looking at the option,” that tells me we’re going to do nothing. Mr. Speaker, we can get a ministerial directive today in this House by saying we’re going to do this, we’re not going to sit on our hands and sit on our butts through this whole process, we should be collecting every single receivable we have because it’s impacting.
So will the Minister, in this House today, make that commitment to the people here that they will follow up immediately and enact this to everyone? Thank you.
Some of these tenants do have a nice, brand new Lexus outside their house, but I assured the Member that we are doing what we can to try and work with those that are in arrears. If reporting to the credit bureau is one of those, then that is what we are planning on doing. I mean, we have an Arrears Management Strategy that we’re working on right now and we realize that arrears are accumulating. Part of it I’ve accepted responsibility as Minister of the Housing Corporation is because we didn’t pursue them as aggressively enough as we should have to get to the point where we’re in the situation we are today and we’re having to play catch-up. So I can assure the Member and all Members of this Assembly that we are doing all that we can to start working on the collection of arrears, because it is going to have an effect on the funding from CMHC. Thank you.
